Off season is a great time to allow your body recover from a busy season of running. This doesn’t mean sitting in front of the fire watching TV. Its all about getting your body prepared and injury free for next season.

Here are our tips for off season training.

Rest and Listen to your body

If you picked up an injury during the race season, now is a good time to go to a physical therapist , physiotherapist or chiropractor to resolve the underlining cause of the injury. If your body is sore and tired give it a well deserved rest. A few weeks rest now could be the different of staying injury free for the whole race season.

Focus on Strength and Flexibility.

Sign up for a course of yoga or pilates can help gain strength, flexibility, balance and body awareness, as well as reduce back pain or other general pains.Check out our Aileen yoga stretches videos here >>>

Cross Train.

It is wise to take a break from long distance running or even totally from running for a few weeks to give your running muscles time to recover. Cross training keeps up your fitness and works different muscles.

Swimming- builds aerobic fitness, increase lung capacity, works arms and legs. Can train at a high intensity with less risk of injury.

Cycling- builds strength in the quads, hamstrings and glutes. Less stress upon the body compared to running.

Speed Work

Doing short interval runs can help increase your speed. Also taking part in 5k races can help develop speed.

Stretch and Foam Roll.

Having a stretching and foam rolling routine is critical in both off season and in race season. Foam roller has many benefits including giving tired muscles a deep tissue massage and decrease muscle tension. Stretching increase flexibility.